A ultrasound image of my elbows detected thinning of the tendons at the connection points, common with tennis elbow, is this also caused by enthesitis? Has anyone else been dx’d with this?
Getting carpal tunnel release and my pinky trigger finger surgery next Tuesday, if it doesn’t help the elbow might be next.
Don’t know if my tendons are thinning but both elbows are screaming at me with both having tennis and golfer’s elbow. Best of luck with your operation next week.
Yes! I’ve got enthesitis at the common extensor tendon insertion point and it’s calcifying … ie. growing a bone spur. It is %&£*")! painful and in my dominant arm 
Back in May I had it injected with depomedrone and lignocaine which gave me a few weeks of relative relief but it’s pretty much a one off as further steroid injection could cause the tendon to detach.
Now at the point where I’m wondering what are the options … elective surgery is my least favoured and I’m in the process of trying to find out whether extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (which is used for kidney stones and heel spurs) may be an option.
Oh my gosh. My head is still at the stage this is just psa induced tennis and golfer’s elbow. I didn’t know it could come to all this @Jules_G and @Jon_sparky. Gosh.
1 Like
Hopefully, @Poo_therapy, it is still early stage stuff for you that will resolve with treatment. The permanent changes happen when it’s been inflammed for a long while. That said my elbow went from feeling fine to having the baby bone spur in about five months but as we know we can also have inflammation without physical discomfort so I could be totally wrong about how long this has really been going on.
I definitely find that using an elbow support does help me. I have a couple of different types and sometimes just a bit of tubi-grip bandage is enough of a “hug” to bring comfort when the whole elbow is hurting so I’m resting anyway. If I’m driving or just need to be able to use my right arm then a tennis elbow/forearm strap is really helpful. This is a good site for info on what’s available but I think mine came from Lloyd’s Pharmacy:
http://www.physioroom.com/catalog/Arm_Elbow_Supports/2033.html
I used to wear a special night splint for cubital tunnel/ulnar impingement but since this tendon stuff kicked off the most comfy position is slightly bent rather than straight so I’ve put that brace away for now.
@Jon_sparky, have you had any relief trying a support?
I have what I presume is enthesitis in both elbows… for me it is just a bit of nuisance at this stage, barely notice it most of the time, but has been consistent, at least for the last 4 months (probably longer than that, but didn’t notice)… I have not had any imaging on it, so really have no idea what’s going on there… but wouldn’t expect it to be thinning (not yet anyways).
Best of luck with your surgery on Tuesday!!! Do let us know how it goes!!!
Elbow supports have worked, I also have the. Ubital tube support, that problem I have is with inflammation the support becomes unconfortable so I take it off. At this point I need one large support for everything!
Thank you, I do hope the surgery will help.
1 Like
Thanks so much for this Jules. I think I do need some support of that nature. I’ll now investigate.
Jon, I have had cubital tunnel for a long time. I had surgery on my left elbow to move the ulnar nerve waaaaaaaaay back in the early 2000’s and over a decade before my PsA diagnosis. I have enthesitis in my elbow tendons and they flare up at the drop of a hat–well more accurately if I pick up a dropped hat. The splints and braces they gave me prior to and post-surgically were the best. I still use an assortment of compression sleeves and tennis-elbow-type braces to keep things in check if I’m doing a lot of physical activity or lifting (unless I forget, of course).
@Jules_G. Bought some pedestrian type tennis elbow cuffs from the physio room. Thought I’d start small. They arrived today. I wore them on both elbows for about the last five hours. Took them off as they finally got annoying BUT… for the first time in well over six months, presently I just have no elbow pain and that’s despite the boiler deciding to not work and me fighting with the garage door (which horribly sticks) where the boiler is in the dark and a storm to get the ruddy thing going again. Gosh what a relief it is to now have no elbow pain for just now. I would guess I need to wear them lots but it’s really lovely to know I can now have pockets of proper relief. Thank you. It’s hard to know what might work without I guess ‘trial and error’ and lots of money being wasted in the process unless one has a physio on the case. I thought I had such a physio and maybe I will but she won’t treat me (despite being on BUPA) until I have a full spinal MRI. Sigh… still waiting for that.
2 Likes
Yes, that type works well, just be sure to only wear it when needed, I heard it is not good to wear supports for long periods of time, as it will weaken the muscle.
Yes that was my thoughts too. So this morning it’s on the worst elbow only and will be taken off in about an hour.
1 Like
I’m glad you ordered something and have found it helps @Poo_therapy. It’s definitely trial and error much of the time. Sadly, the longer this has gone on, the better I’ve got at identifying what might help the most.
Jon’s right that we shouldn’t wear supports all the time so just strap up when you know you’ll be doing something which will pull on those tendons. Driving is becoming a big one for me so I nearly always strap up and last night when I cooked dinner knowing I needed to lift a pan of boiling water (very carefully with two hands!) I had my right elbow and wrist strapped.
I’ve also had some relief applying Voltarol gel (dicolfenac), the 12 hour version seems to work best for me, on tendons or where I have quite diffuse pain such as my knees. Just got to be careful if you’re taking any other NSAID’s.
Yes I use the Volterol very occasionally too. It does help at times. I put it on at night and it seems to ensure the problem area isn’t quite as bad in the morning.
But the smell…
That I can deal with!
1 Like
I got elbow tendinitis 3 years ago, but now it is pretty constant. I do anything and they flare up, screaming at me.
1 Like